Ghost Ship suspect talks to B.A.R.

NEWS

by Ed Walsh

Derick Ion Almena, one of the two men charged in connection
with the deadly Oakland Ghost Ship fire, told the Bay Area Reporter that he is
being made a scapegoat and questioned the relevance of some of the witnesses
who are scheduled to testify against him during his preliminary hearing this
week.

The Ghost Ship founder spoke to the B.A.R. from Santa Rita
Jail in Dublin Saturday, December 2, on the one-year anniversary of the fire
that took 36 lives, including at least three transgender people. He expressed
support and sympathy for family and friends of the victims killed in the East
Oakland warehouse inferno. It was the first time he has spoken to the print
media since his arrest on involuntary manslaughter charges.

The Ghost Ship creator has remained in jail since he and his
collaborator, Max Harris, were first taken into custody six months ago. When
asked what he would say to the fire victims' friends and families if he had
been able to attend any of the anniversary memorials, Almena replied,
"We've never been able to support our friends ever since the fire. We have
just been looked at as criminals and we are very much a part of the music and
arts scene and we have been exiled.

"I am ashamed of what's happened," Almena added.
"I am ashamed that we couldn't come together, that they couldn't
understand my deep regret and my sorrow over this. How much I am in pain. How saddened
my family is. You know, [the victims] were friends to my kids. My kids danced
and made music with the friends who died but nobody has heard that story.

"Nobody wants to know that we built an artistic
community," he continued. "We allowed these people to come into our
home and make music and celebrate life and now we are being condemned. And I
just wanted them to know that I am there with them. Even though I am here in
this prison, I am proud of what we did. I am proud of what we all did every
day. Because it wasn't just this one event. It was every day. Every day was a
celebration for the people that lived in that space. There were 25 of us. And I
want them to know that they should be proud of their children, proud of their
friends, for seeking adventure, for seeking life, for being creative, that it
wasn't a horrible place that they went to, they weren't trapped, they weren't seduced,
they weren't lied to. They were creating their own lives. It's just a total
fucking tragedy."

Many have questioned why the building's owner, Chor Ng, has
not been charged in connection with the case and why none of the numerous city
officials who observed the activity and conditions in the space but did
nothing. The Alameda County District Attorney's office has declined to comment
on why it has not charged Ng or whether charges against the landlord are being
considered. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf claimed that Almena and Harris were
adept at hiding what they were doing with the space from city authorities, a
claim that Almena sharply disputes. Almena noted that numerous representatives
from the city as well as child protective services workers who saw the Ghost
Ship space and lauded him for it.

"The fire department, the police department, the chief
arson investigator had all been inside the space," Almena said. "And
they all said 'this is awesome, this is a cool space' and they never shut us
down.

"I think we are definitely scapegoats," Almena
said. "We are interesting characters. Once you isolated us we are alone in
the world. We are easy prey."

The building

In a news conference announcing the involuntary manslaughter
charges against Almena and Harris, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy
O'Malley told reporters, "The paying guests at the event were faced with a
nearly impossible labyrinth of the defendants' making to get out of that
building."

When asked to respond to the DA, Almena called O'Malley's
claim "entirely untrue." He noted that he worked to make the building
safer after he took over the property and that he wrote on his lease
application that he intended to use the space for things like dance performances,
music workshops, film showings, as a cafe and for yoga, kung fu and drum
classes.

"The landlord never took our lease and turned it in to
the city," Almena said. "So I thought I was renting a space that was
to a standard of being able to outfit it and get it ready to do all these
things. It wasn't retrofitted. It didn't have sprinklers. It didn't even have
water. I had to put in all of the water lines, bathrooms, and I put in a second
staircase. The second staircase that people were able to come down and escape.
I put in the back door. People escaped through the back door."

Almena added that Ng never changed the zoning of the space
from its original intended use as a dry goods warehouse.

"That is where she failed because she didn't want to do
any of the work that would bring it up to standard," Almena said.

Almena was not optimistic that the preliminary hearing this
week would be fair to him and Harris. He said that many of the witnesses hadn't
seen the improvements he made to the space.

"Those people have no relevance at all," Almena
said. "They haven't been in the space in years. They are going to be the
government's witnesses against me."

Almena and LGBTs

Almena's wife, Micah Allison, told the B.A.R. in a phone
conversation last week that Almena grew up in West Hollywood and was always
close to the LGBT community.

In the jailhouse interview Almena explained, "As far as
who congregated our space, the whole LGBT, all these new abbreviations are new
to me, you know. I created a space that was romantic and beautifully lit and
whoever wanted to utilize our space, we were really happy with that especially if
live music was being made. And there was a certain particular kind of crowd that
really fell in love with it. We offered it up to them, and you know, from the
LGBT community, I have even gotten people to think I am some horrible person
but I love them. I love everyone."

Almena told the B.A.R. that he is being kept in virtual
isolation. He helps pass the time by drawing. In a letter to this reporter, he
enclosed a drawing that he made from part of a newspaper page.

The timing of Almena's interview on the one-year anniversary
of the fire was coincidental. It had been scheduled days earlier but Allison
said Almena had to cancel because he was too distraught to talk after learning
that a 22-year-old man in the cell next to him had hanged himself.